For 89 minutes, everything was coming up roses for Barcelona at the Camp Nou. Luis Suarez’s goal in the 53rd minute had the Catalans on top of Real Madrid and ready to carve into a six-point deficit at the top of the La Liga table.
But, in the final minute of regulation, Sergio Ramos took the knife and plunged it into Barcelona’s heart. His thumping header — after an inch-perfect delivery from a set piece from Luka Modric — found the back of the net past a diving Marc-Andre ter Stegen to tie the score.
That strike, and Casemiro’s timely headed clearance off the line in stoppage time, snatched a draw away from Barcelona — and may have gone some distance towards cementing the La Liga title.
True, it’s only the first week of December and there are still 24 league matches left for both Real Madrid and Barcelona. But, for Zinedine Zidane’s squad, the hard work of claiming the title may already be done. No disrespect to Sevilla, but Real Madrid has already visited the home grounds of its two main rivals, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
That means when the return matches roll around in April, both will be played at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Zidane certainly isn’t taking anything for granted.
“It is what it is and we won another point,” he said after the match. “We have a six-point lead, but it does not change anything. We must keep working, this is a very long season.”
“It is a good point, and we keep picking them up.”
Barcelona manager Luis Enrique sounded like a man after the match that knows a win got away.
“In the second half, we were the better side, but we didn’t manage to get the second goal and they ended up equalizing,” he said. “That said, we deserved to win. It is not the best result for us.”
With both teams still alive in the Champions League and Copa Del Rey, there is always the possibility of match congestion and injuries affecting the title race.
But, unless strange happens, one of the biggest league titles in the world could already in the bag before Christmas.
